On a jaunt to visit her friend Miss Marple, Elspeth McGillicuddy sees a man strangling a woman on a passing train. The police dismiss her observation as imagination, but Miss Marple knows better and decides to search for the corpse on her own.
P. D. James, the undisputed queen of mystery, gives us an intriguing, inspiring and idiosyncratic look at the genre she has spent her life perfecting. Examining mystery from top to bottom, beginning with such classics as Charles Dickens's Bleak House and Wilkie Collins's The Woman in White, and then looking at such contemporary masters as Colin Dexter and Henning Mankell, P. D. James goes right to the heart of the genre. Along the way she traces the lives and writing styles of Arthur Conan Doyle, Agatha Christie, Dashiell Hammett, and many more. Here is P.D. James discussing detective fiction as social history, explaining its stylistic components, revealing her own writing process, and commenting on the recent resurgence of detective fiction in modern culture. It is a must have for the mystery connoisseur and casual fan alike.
FROM CWA CARTIER DIAMOND DAGGER AWARD WINNER COLIN DEXTER Morse had never ceased to wonder why, with the staggering advances in medical science, all pronouncements concerning times of death seemed so disconcertingly vague. The newly appointed member of the Oxford Examinations Syndicate was deaf, provincial and gifted. Now he is dead . . . And his murder, in his north Oxford home, proves to be the start of a formidably labyrinthine case for Chief Inspector Morse, as he tries to track down the killer through the insular and bitchy world of the Oxford Colleges . . . PRAISE FOR THE INSPECTOR MORSE SERIES "The Inspector Morse series, both the novels and the television dramas, are among the finest creations of British culture and are known and loved all over the world." Sydney Morning Herald "Let those who lament the decline of the English detective story reach for Colin Dexter" Guardian
There's been no end to the chaos at 32 Windsor Gardens since Paddington, that irresistible bear from Darkest Peru, joined the Brown family. Even Mrs. Bird, the housekeeper, has learned that there's no knowing what's likely to happen when he's around. Well meaning as ever, Paddington's at it again, and this time he really goes to town. If a boulder rolls down the aisle of a bus, sending the entire carload careening; if a visitor to the hospital leaves even the staff psychiatrist baffled; or if a hostess discovers her surprise dessert is "baked elastic," you can be sure that Paddington is somewhere close at hand. Paddington fans will be delighted as, once more, that bear turns things merrily, unpredictably topsy-turvy in this revised edition of Paddington Goes to Town.
It’s my job to look at people and to think carefully about them. I was sure there was something strange about this man. His hair – nobody has their hair cut quite like that now. And that suit – it was quite clean, quite new, but the trousers and the jacket were different somehow … Where had I seen a suit like that before? There has been a car crash on an empty road, and a driver who thinks he has killed a man. Sue Fraser is a police officer. She has to investigate the accident. First she must find the strange hitchhiker – the man she gave a lift to on the day the accident happened. Level 4 1,250 headwords Story word count: 6,302 words Currently comprising 16 titles across four stages - from beginner to upper intermediate - the series is carefully graded, lexically and structurally, to encourage young adults to read for pleasure and at speed. The stories are all, first and foremost, just that - stories, from ELT authors well known for their ability to craft original and engaging narratives to entertain and educate. Each reader contains striking and contemporary full-colour illustrations and photos, resource pages of well-scaffolded exercises, and an easy-to-use glossary. Titles in Levels 1 and 2 are 32 pages each, while titles in Levels 3 and 4 are 40 pages each.
"DeLuca keeps readers guessing. Minette Walters fans will be pleased." —Publishers Weekly (starred review) Perfect for fans of Margaret Atwood's Alias Grace and Hannah Kent's Burial Rites, this taut psychological thriller offers a delicious take on deviant and defiant Victorian women in a time when marriage itself was its own prison. England, 1873. Clara Blackstone has just been released after one year in a private asylum for the insane. Clara has two goals: to reunite with her husband, Henry, and to never—ever—return to the asylum. As she enters Durham, Clara finds her carriage surrounded by a mob gathered to witness the imprisonment of Mary Ann Cotton—England’s first female serial killer—accused of poisoning nearly twenty people, including her husbands and children. Clara soon finds the oppressive confinement of her marriage no less terrifying than the white-tiled walls of Hoxton. And as she grows increasingly suspicious of Henry’s intentions, her fascination with Cotton grows. Soon, Cotton is not just a notorious figure from the headlines, but an unlikely confidante, mentor—and perhaps accomplice—in Clara’s struggle to protect her money, her freedom, and her life.
There’ll always be an England, but the old place has never been quite the same since the Brown children came across a small lost bear in London’s Paddington Station. Whether tinkering with the neighbor’s lawn mower or experimenting in the kitchen, Paddington has a knack for finding trouble. In this new edition of Paddington at Large, the well-meaning bear with a talent for trouble continues to fill the lives of the Brown family with unexpected adventures that will delight the multitude of Paddington fans.
They Wish They Were Us meets The Queen’s Gambit in this “stunning…unforgettable” (Publishers Weekly) thriller set in the world of competitive Scrabble, where a teen girl is forced to investigate the mysterious death of her best friend when her Instagram comes back to life with cryptic posts and messages. CATALYST 13 points noun: a substance that speeds up a reaction without itself changing When Najwa Bakri walks into her first Scrabble competition since her best friend’s death, it’s with the intention to heal and move on with her life. Perhaps it wasn’t the best idea to choose the very same competition where said best friend, Trina Low, died. It seems that even though Najwa is trying to change, she’s not ready to give up Trina just yet. But the same can’t be said for all the other competitors. With Trina, the Scrabble Queen herself, gone, the throne is empty, and her friends are eager to be the next reigning champion. All’s fair in love and Scrabble, but all bets are off when Trina’s formerly inactive Instagram starts posting again, with cryptic messages suggesting that maybe Trina’s death wasn’t as straightforward as everyone thought. And maybe someone at the competition had something to do with it. As secrets are revealed and the true colors of her friends are shown, it’s up to Najwa to find out who’s behind these mysterious posts—not just to save Trina’s memory, but to save herself.
What does the name " Agatha Christie " mean? To many people, it means a book about a murder mystery - a " whodunnit ". " I'm reading an Agatha Christie, " people say. " I'm not sure who the murderer is - I think it's . . . " But they are usually wrong, because it is not easy to guess the murderer's name before the end of the book. But who was Agatha Christie? What was she like? Was her life quiet and unexciting, or was it full of interest and adventure? Was there a mystery in her life, too? Cover images courtesy of The Mander and Mitchenson Theatre Collection/Angus McBean, Topham Picturepoint, Topham Picturepoint/Press Association, National Railway Museum/Science & Society Picture Library, and Stephen Oliver.